


Don't Go

by joonfired



Series: The Adventures of a Single Dad in Space [11]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Baby Yoda loves his dad, Found Family, Gen, I know 0.2 percent of Mandalorian culture, Light Angst, ManDadlorian, Other, Parent-Child Relationship, Prompt Fic, The Force, single dad in space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-18 02:21:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21770197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joonfired/pseuds/joonfired
Summary: The Mandalorian thinks leaving the child is the best option and is proven wrong
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Series: The Adventures of a Single Dad in Space [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1549036
Comments: 49
Kudos: 673





	Don't Go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ViridianVenus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViridianVenus/gifts).



> **Prompt by ViridianVenus:** _consider for a moment Mando making one last attempt to leave Baby Yoda somewhere safe, still thinking a life on the run wasn't fair to the kid. But the baby sees him trying to leave and uses the force to keep him off the ship._

It was for the best.

This was a nice town here, full of people so decent that the Mandalorian hadn’t believed it at first. There was so much crooked in the world that innocence was almost as dead as the mythological Jedi. Sure, the people here were a little naive, but such charm was one he didn’t mind the child adopting.

It was, even after all the years it had lived, still just a child.

And he saw how peace sat well with the tiny creature. It could explore all curious paths without much worry for danger.

So arrangements were made with the town leader, a gruff figure who always softened towards the child. They agreed to care for it and also extended the offer of sanctuary for the Mandlorian should it become necessary. Oh, how naive they were to believe their defenseless community could keep someone like him safe!

But they could hide the child behind their signal-scrambling rocks and cozy mountain holes.

He didn’t want to say goodbye. He wanted to slip away while the child was off playing or hunting for the next thing it decided was edible.

However, as he approached his ship, the child peeked out from under the ramp with those large, inquisitive eyes. When it saw him, the child toddled out, clearly thinking it was leaving with him, too.

“What are you doing here, womp rat?” the Mandalorian asked, bending down to pick it up.

He looked down into the child’s tiny features, something shifting uncomfortably in his chest as he realized this was probably the last time he might see it. A townsfolk trotted by, and the Mandalorian passed the child into their four spindly arms.

“May your journey be long,” the townsfolk said, lifting the top right arm in a farewell.

The child made a curious coo, lifting its left hand as a mirror action.

The Mandalorian turned and started up the ramp of his ship.

Suddenly there was a distressed cry from the child as it began to realize it was being left behind again. The Mandalorian didn’t turn around, but kept walking. This was for the child’s best. It needed shelter, not a life on the run with danger around every single corner.

His boots left the ground and he made an undignified yelp of surprise. The child was still crying, but as the Mandalorian spun weightlessly in the air, he saw it standing hunched on the ground, both hands outreached towards him and features wrinkled in both sadness and effort.

The Mandalorian tried to strain against the invisible force keeping him aloft, to break the hold the child had over him . . . but it was useless. He was pulled through the air and then deposited unceremoniously in a clattering heap in front of the child.

It was still crying, but its eyes opened and it darted for him as fast as it’s small, robe-encumbered legs could go. It hit his leg plates and then crawled up to his chest, little claws digging into the material.

Only then did it quiet with a little shiver, and he reached to hold the tiny body as the child fainted from the use of its enormous power.

“I see now,” the townsfolk said, kneeling down next to them. They touched the child's head and then the beskar over the Mandalorian’s heart. “You are connected by the Force, you and this child. Such a bond is not easily broken.”

“The Force?” the Mandalorian murmured, looking down at the sleeping child. “But . . . that’s a myth.”

A myth he had witnessed several times now.

The townsfolk got to their feet, pupiless eyes solemn. “Do not leave the child.”

And as the Mandalorian continued to gaze down at the small being who was so inexorably wound into his life, he realized that he could not leave. This child needed him, even through the danger-filled corners of his life.

So he would find a way that was best for both of them. A way that kept them together, kin staying by kin.

This is the Way.

**Author's Note:**

> a prompt was given and I was inspired
> 
> and the original alien people in here are non-binary kind of centaur-ish things  
> but with four arms and idk their faces except they got black eyes


End file.
